Tag Archives: city of portland

As the city of Portland continues forecasting its future over the next 25 years through the Portland Plan, some really interesting and useful information is starting to emerge.

One of these interesting tidbits is a heat map the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability released this week. It lays out in a color-coded fashion the best opportunities around the city to implement the city’s 20-Minute Neighborhood concept.

(Map courtesy of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability)

The 20-minute neighborhood is a neighborhood with convenient, safe and pedestrian-orientated access to the places people need to go. Basically, anything anyone could need is accessible within a 20-minute walk or bike ride from home.

The map shows the areas around Portland where this is accomplished, as well as the areas that need some work. The city’s objectives are to pinpoint where a future 20-minute neighborhood could be accomplished and layout specific zoning that can help.

The bureau got to its conclusions by taking into account accessibility, pedestrian orientation, proximity to housing and the amount and variety of services.

It goes without mentioning that downtown and a majority of the Central Eastside are already operating as 20-minute neighborhoods. I thought it was interesting, though, to see such a large portion of North Portland, as well as some outer eastside neighborhoods, be designated as having the best accessibility.

This map could come in handy for both developers and real estate agents when scouting or showing off properties. This is a pretty good bird’s eye view of what neighborhoods have been redeveloped.

It’s also worth mentioning that a significant portion of the yellow – the best accessibility – is in areas that have been designated urban renewal areas. I know that urban renewal tends to get a lot of flak, especially in a tight economy where every tax dollar is fought for, but maps like these show you how successful urban renewal can be.